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Police: Suicide attempted at UNM

Victim fell four stories, survived by landing in garden

A female jumped from the fourth floor of the Yale parking structure after contacting APD this morning, UNMPD spokesman Lt. Robert Haarhues said.

Haarhues said UNMPD officers arrived on the scene but were unable to talk her down.

She jumped and landed in a flower bed and was knocked unconscious, he said. She was then rushed to UNM Hospital, where she became conscious and alert almost immediately.

Haarhues said she is not a UNM student.

Agora Crisis Center spokesman Jeremy Jaramillo said suicide is a statewide problem, and that Agora has handled several suicide attempts and a few completed suicides in the past month alone.

Jaramillo said the best way to prevent suicide is to simply pay attention to emotional and physical changes in others.

“The truth is, we need to have campus-wide training so that we know what to look out for with our friends and family,” he said.

“Isolation, change in weight, sleeping patterns, loss of interest in activities, general hopelessness and change in mood — these all could be warning signs.”

Jaramillo said Agora, in conjunction with UNM’s Office of the Provost, is working on a training program to help professors and advisers recognize suicide warning signs. He said the program is an online, at-your-own-pace avatar-based course that will be ready in the coming weeks.

“It teaches them to look out for the signs of people who may be having an emotionally difficult time, and it teaches them how to approach them, how to speak to them and how to refer them to the right place on campus,” he said.

Jaramillo also said Agora recently developed an online chat system for those who feel more comfortable chatting online than calling Agora’s crisis prevention line.

He said the best thing to do for those who may be considering suicide is to talk to them.

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“The best thing to do is be straight with them, and talk to them upfront and say, ‘Are you considering suicide?’” he said. “People need to get to a counselor, they need to talk to a professional. Ask them to call us and see what it feels like to talk to someone. They can always hang up or press ‘end chat.’”

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